How Infrared Light Therapy Can Help You Painlessly Recover
Red light therapy for back pain relief is a form of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory therapy. It may be used to treat a flare-up, but most of the time, it’s used to help relieve chronic back pain. Red light therapy works by increasing the oxygen and nutrients to tissues of the body. It also helps reduce inflammation and swelling of the joints. In addition, it helps increase circulation, improves muscle strength, and helps the body’s natural healing process.
Red light is created through a narrow beam of light that penetrates the skin and into the muscle. This light, or more specifically, the wavelengths that it contains, are designed to penetrate the skin and muscle tissue deeply. Since the light is able to penetrate deeper, it does not pass through or shock the surrounding tissues. Instead, it increases blood flow to the area, which in turn increases circulation and allows the nutrients and vitamins to be carried more readily throughout the body. By improving circulation and stimulating the healing process, red light therapy can offer pain relief without invasive procedures.
The two major types of infrared light therapy include: White light and Visible Light (UV-L). Both have similar benefits when it comes to penetrating the skin and delivering treatments. For instance, both wavelengths can penetrate deeper than visible light and deliver pain relief. However, the difference between UV-L and UV-A is that UV-A does not absorb heat.
Inflammation is one of the main factors that contributes to pain. Chronic inflammation causes tightness, restriction, and limited range of motion. Red light can help decrease the inflammation process, as well as lessen the symptoms associated with it. Red light therapy for chronic inflammation can reduce stiffness, pain, and restriction in the shoulder, hips, ankles, and knees. Inflammation typically affects a specific body part, such as the spine, hip, elbow, or knee.
Low intensity light therapy can also be used in conjunction with physical therapy to facilitate pain healing. A physical therapist may use low-intensity light therapy to improve blood flow. By increasing blood flow through the skin, this therapy can promote healing and minimize scarring. This combination has been shown to work very effectively for arthritis, as well as other conditions and diseases. Other conditions that can benefit from a low-intensity light therapy include chemotherapy patients undergoing chemo, and rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.
Infrared light therapy can offer effective relief for many types of pain, from the simple to the complex. While low-intensity light therapy has been around for a long time, it wasn’t until recently that it was approved by the FDA for therapeutic use. Now, many doctors prescribe this type of therapy for patients with many types of pain, from tennis elbow to sciatica. While there is still more research to be done on infrared light therapy for pain, many physicians are beginning to incorporate it into their treatment plans.